Lombardino's with Laura

I'm still playing catch-up from fall. These pics are from a dinner at Lombardino's with Ms. L. For my taste, the tricolore salad would've been better without the bleu cheese, but that makes sense because it's not my favorite. It was grand, however, to have more exotic greens: radicchio, frisée, and escarole.

tricolore salad

Evensong Spa

Laura and I channeled our inner divas and went to the Evensong Spa in Green Lake a few weeks ago.

At breakfast

Sorry for the wretchedly dark photo. The sunny landscape wasn't doing us any photographic favors, but it, plus the bare trees and the snowy lake, made for a lovely view.

Labyrinth

This time, I didn't walk the labyrinth, but L. did. It seems a little cheesy, but it really is very soothing. And the bank of windows affords a lovely view of the surrounding landscape.

Partying like it's 2012

Just a few shots from my 35th birthday extravaganza in September, which included a picnic by the lake, dinner at Umami, shopping at reThreads west and dinner at Eno Vino, and dinner and La Brioche cake at A. + H.'s house. Oh, and the boy bought me my very own bocce ball set. I can't wait to try them out. Woot!

B.'s tutu transformed me into a birthday nymph

Delicious cake from La Brioche

For the Love of Tuna

Ah. I just finished a very refreshing shower, and now I'm drinking ginger ale and walking around in my Wonder Woman underoos.

Tonight for dinner, I grilled tuna steaks and topped them with leftover pesto butter.

On the side, I had a few crostini topped with olive tapenade (well, in a previous incarnation, it was an olive and basil vinaigrette for an arugula and cannellini salad, but it was close enough to a tapenade to work).

For the picnic preceding Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at APT last week (7/23), I prepared this:

Arugula and Cannellini Salad with Olive Vinaigrette  
(from Whole Living)

vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup pitted oil-cured olives, such as Nicoise (about 36)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

salad

• One 15 1/2-ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 cups pear, grape, or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch arugula (about 6 ounces), trimmed and washed

Make vinaigrette: Combine olives and the water in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until olives are finely chopped. Add garlic, basil, vinegar, and cumin; process until mixture is smooth and combined, stopping to scrape sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

In a medium bowl, combine beans, tomatoes, and red onion, and gently toss. Pour vinaigrette over bean mixture, and toss to coat. To serve, divide arugula leaves among four plates, and mound bean mixture on top.

World's tiniest pic--hooray for iPhone cameras--of us at APT for Blithe Spirit

On July 9, J. and I went to The Taming of the Shrew at APT. I must admit that the female obedience theme was rather tiring by the end. While it's not one of Shakey's full-on problem plays, it was controversial, according to some critics, for its celebration of female subjugation and misogyny even when first published. The Wikipedia article about it has all kinds of interesting info., so I won't regurgitate it.

At APT for The Taming of the Shrew